So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.
Clarice LispectorRead
Even great men are only truly recognized and honored once they are dead. Why? Because those who praise them need to feel themselves somehow superior to the person praised, they need to feel they are making some concession.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the paradox of how true recognition often comes posthumously, highlighting human nature's tendency to seek superiority over the praised.
Clarice Lispector's quote suggests that society often fails to fully appreciate individuals during their lifetime. It implies that recognition and honor are frequently bestowed only after death, driven by a psychological need for the living to feel superior or to make a concession by acknowledging the greatness of someone no longer present. This highlights a critical reflection on how our perceptions and valuations of greatness can be influenced by ego and the complexities of human relationships.
Themes
RecognitionHonorHuman NatureGreatnessPosthumous
In practice
Example use cases
In a memorial speech highlighting the achievements of a recently deceased individual.
More from Clarice Lispector
All quotes →A horse is freedom so indominable that it becomes useless to imprison it to serve man: it lets itself be domesticated, but with a simple, rebellious toss of the head-shaking its mane like an abundance of free-flowing hair-it shows that its inner nature is always wild, translucent and free.
Clarice LispectorRead
The mystery of human destiny is that we are fated, but that we have the freedom to fulfill or not fulfill our fate: realization of our fated destiny depends on us. While inhuman beings like the cockroach realize the entire cycle without going astray because they make no choices.
Clarice LispectorRead
Love is now, is always. All that is missing is the coup de grâce- which is called passion.
Clarice LispectorRead
I work only with lost and founds.
Clarice LispectorRead
Ela acreditava em anjo e, porque acreditava, eles existiam" | "She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed
Clarice LispectorRead
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